Letter boxes: The red heart of the British streetscape - BBC News BBC News Letter boxes: The red heart of the British streetscape By Kathryn Westcott BBC News Magazine 18 January 2013 Read more about sharing. Close share panel One of the UK's rarest postboxes is celebrating its 150th anniversary. But what is the future for the red emblem of the British streetscape? Of the 115,000 or so postboxes dotted around the country, only a single "Liverpool Special" still graces a public space, in the city's Albert Dock. It is a rare example of a piece of street furniture that perhaps more than any other object helps create a quintessentially British landscape. The red phone box is (largely) gone. The red postbox remains. The denizens of conservation areas still jealously hang on to their heritage phone boxes. But will the red postbox face the same fate, reduced to a pleasant rarity? Many of us still give directions to our own homes using the cast-iron box as a landmark. Its design has changed little since 1879.

Not so celebrated British-designed letter boxes can be found throughout the UK, the Republic of Ireland and in many former nations of the British Empire and members of the Commonwealth. In some cases, they chart the political developments in the governance of a nation. In 1954, the royal cipher on Scottish postboxes was replaced with the Scottish crown (pictured). Campaigners said the inscription EIIR was unacceptable because Elizabeth I had not reigned over Scotland. In Ireland postboxes document the transition from British to Irish administration. Red boxes were painted green after the Anglo-Irish Treaty was ratified in 1922. Today you will find "hybrid" postboxes with Edwardian surrounds and replacement doors bearing the insignia of the Irish Free State (1922-1937). In 2009, young Republicans in parts of Northern Ireland launched a campaign to paint letter boxes green. In Malta's capital Valletta in the 1980s, some of the royal ciphers on postboxes in Valletta were ground off on government orders. For many communities, they are a reassuring presence - a cheerful, red splash that has stood out on British streets for a more than a century and a half.

But with privatisation looming - possibly this year - are other colours set to usurp the familiar red? There is now an inexorable shift to email from the traditional letter. The peak for Royal Mail deliveries was in 2005-06 when some 84 million items were delivered every working day. Today it's roughly 58 million, according to Royal Mail. Much of that is business mail that never plops through a traditional postbox. The first pillar boxes were erected at St Helier in Jersey in 1852, at the recommendation of novelist Anthony Trollope - who was an employee of the General Post Office at the time. The first boxes were erected in Britain a year later. Designs varied but in 1859 an improved cylindrical design was adopted for standard use nationwide. A Liverpool postmaster decided to rebel, and after a waging a long battle with London, the Liverpool Special letter box - with its increased capacity and chunkily cast crown on top - was born. The Letter Box Study Group (LBSG), which maps sites across the UK, is not just concerned with this postal oddity today, but with the fate of all the boxes.

In 2002, Royal Mail undertook to repaint each of its letter boxes every three years. But, according to Andrew Young, chairman of the LBSG, many are not being properly maintained. "There was a massive amount of publicity about the painting of the gold boxes during the Olympics and Paralympics," he says. "Walk into any tourist shop and you will see post boxes replicated in miniature as souvenirs. But look at some of them on the street, they are poorly painted, collection plates are missing. They should be doing more to maintain them - there is lack of pride in their presentation. "In some rural areas and towns, the letter boxes look like they haven't been painted for 10 or 20 years." But the Royal Mail denies it has been neglecting its letter boxes, saying a great deal of effort goes into maintaining and painting them. "We repaint and refurbish them on a regular basis," says spokesman Nick Martens. "We also respond directly to reports by our staff and customers about individual boxes that require urgent attention." Young's view, however, is that in a deregulated system, there could be a decline in numbers of the traditional form of the red boxes.

"There is a question over who would become responsible for the heritage," says Young. "It would take a campaign to determine who had liability." The Postal Services Act 2011 , which paved the way for privatisation, makes reference to "an operator's 'postal infrastructure'" which, it says, includes "physical infrastructure (such as letter boxes)". But the act does not specify what colour those boxes should be. What would happen if, say, a firm bought a stake and wanted some of the boxes painted orange? As it stands there's no specific legal barrier. A Department for Business, Information and Skills spokeswoman, however, says: "Royal Mail is 100% committed to keeping red postboxes as they are. Any change is beyond the realms of even the most fertile imagination." When the bill was making its way though Parliament, Conservative MP for Kettering Philip Hollobone called for legal protection for red boxes, which he said could be lost forever. There is formal legal protection for the image of the monarch on stamps. Young says he does not "expect a wholesale removal". A private operator that didn't feel the need to use letter boxes could just leave them there, shuttered. But who would maintain the paintwork?

Would residents groups have to effectively adopt them and keep the red paint handy? The same was done for many remaining red telephone boxes. The traditional letter box has many fans. Anthony Trollope The 19th Century novelist (1815-1882) is credited with introducing the pillar box to the UK, while working in a senior position at the Post Office. The Trollope Society Jonathan Glancey, writer and author of Pillar Boxes, sees them as miniature works of architecture, as a "glorious piece of public design", both functional and aesthetic, that has stood the test of time. "Functionality was key but they were part of the school of design when every-day objects were handsome, regular and standardised. They came from the same school of design as the old telephone boxes and red buses." "They tell a story about who we are," he says. "The very first standardised design - the Penfold - derived its look from the Greek design," he says. "This went with the spread of literature during the Victorian times, when the Classics - writing and writing letters - was so important." He says they have come to symbolise a time before public services "lost cohesive value".

"Postboxes - like the old telephone boxes - are symbolic of democratic order and high standards. Whether you lived in Toxteth or Mayfair, there was the same standards for public design." Pillar boxes, he says, show that the street is special and that people care about it. The street is part of British culture. "Not just something to walk down and to make money from," Glancey says.

You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook Trollope, Anthony - Oxford Reference Oxford Reference Ancient history (non-classical to 500 CE) Early history (500 CE to 1500) Early Modern History (1500 to 1700) modern history (1700 to 1945) Contemporary History (post 1945) Literary studies (early and medieval) Literary studies (19th century) Literary studies (20th century onwards) Literary studies - fiction, novelists, and prose writers Literary studies - plays and playwrights Literary studies - poetry and poets Literary theory and cultural studies Shakespeare studies and criticism Social Welfare and Social Services Sociology General Links for this Work Page of PRINTED FROM OXFORD REFERENCE ( (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2013. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single entry from a reference work in OR for personal use. Subscriber: University of Washington; date: 20 January 2017 Trollope, Anthony World Encyclopedia Trollope, Anthony (1815–82) English novelist.

He spent most of his life working for the Post Office and was responsible for the introduction of the pillar-box. Trollope's reputation as a writer is founded chiefly on a series of six novels, chronicling rural Victorian life in the imaginary county of Barsetshire. The series included The Warden (1855), Barchester Towers (1857) and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1858). His novels of the Palliser family include Can You Forgive Her? (1864–65) and The Way We Live Now (1874–75). Was This Useful? The Hidden History of British Post Boxes – HistorianRuby Academic Research , History , Postal History The Hidden History of British Post Boxes For 160 years we have been posting our mail into pillar, wall and lamp boxes, but how many of us actually look at the box in which we post our mail? Do we pay attention to the royal ciphers that denote the age of the box? Or know the impact of momentous historical events that directly affect the letter boxes on our streets?

Post boxes, a part of everyday life for most of us, are un-loved, under-used in the digital age and have a fascinating history of their own. Early VR Pillar Box at the British Postal Museum and Archive Initially British post boxes were painted green but in 1874 the standard bright red colour was chosen to aid visibility, as some people complained that the green pillar boxes were difficult to find. Only post boxes of special interest are normally allowed to divert from the red body with the black base. The one below with ‘post office’ painted in gold is in a prime tourist location near Windsor and its VR cipher (unseen in this image), indicating Victoria Regina, is a clue to its age. Some of the early post boxes have now received Grade II listed status which affords them some protection over removal or re-siting. Grade II listed hexagonal ‘Penfold’ pillar boxes, named after John Penfold who designed them, are ‘almost always listable’ due to their scarcity.

Historic England and the Royal Mail, with the approval of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, have agreed a joint policy for the retention and conservation of all operating letter boxes at their existing locations, unless ‘exceptional circumstances necessitate their removal.’ Above L to R: VR Fluted Box, Windsor, Replica VR Penfold, Haslemere, Original VR Penfold, Carshalton. Novelist Anthony Trollope, when working for the General Post Office (forerunner of the Royal Mail), first introduced the pillar box in Jersey and Guernsey in 1852, with the British mainland pillar box following in 1853. Letter boxes were built to local specifications but by 1859 a standardised cylindrical pillar box was introduced. Further types of post box followed: wall (1857), usually fixed inside a brick wall or gate-post, Ludlow (1885), used at sub-post offices and the lamp box (1897), usually attached to a lamp post and most often in rural areas. Approximately 350 post box designs are recorded, although most are a variation on a theme.

Necessary modifications were made to the aperture, or mouth of the letter box, as the service progressed. Early Victorian boxes had vertical apertures; however the horizontal aperture became standard and rather than remain in the body of the pillar box, it was moved to the door to prevent letters getting stuck in the roof of the box. The aperture was also covered with a shade to prevent rain water damaging the mail. Rare GR Ludow Post Box The standardised cylindrical box did not suit all. The ‘Liverpool Special’ was designed in 1862 when it was noted that particularly busy post boxes in Liverpool were almost overflowing with mail. The Liverpool postmaster lobbied the General Post Office for a bespoke letter box, better suited to the newspapers and other large packages that were regularly posted in the city. The design remained cylindrical, but had a larger aperture with the words ‘Post Office’ framed by nautical rope detailing. It omitted the VR cipher; however it was topped with a large crown. By 1863, seven Liverpool Specials had been cast and placed around the city. The last remaining functional Liverpool Special can be seen in its re-sited position at the Albert Dock.

The Last Remaining Liverpool Special: Albert Dock, Liverpool Edward VIII and his short reign In January 1936, the Post Office Circular assured the new King Edward VIII of ‘their continued loyalty and devotion.’ However, the King could not offer his subjects the same guarantee and his reign lasted just 325 days. Accordingly, the post boxes bearing his royal cipher are the rarest. Out of the 271 letter boxes cast in 1936, 161 were pillar boxes, the remainder being wall, lamp and Ludlow boxes. The placement of the first post box bearing the cipher of Edward VIII at Balmoral was announced in The Times on September 11 1936. Less than 150 of these post boxes remain. Significantly, the abdication resulted in a series of letters and memorandums between the Director of Postal Services and the Stores Department during the autumn and winter of 1937, displaying official concern that the abdication crisis, had, or would affect, a governmental department. Rare Edward VIII Pillar Box A distribution list of post boxes bearing the former monarch’s cipher was requested by the Postal Department.

On examination Glasgow was considered ‘unlucky’ to have twenty-seven boxes bearing Edward VIII’s monogram, Manchester followed next with seven. The uneven distribution of pillar boxes to Glasgow during 1936 was not explained. It was noted that when sent for repair, boxes bearing the cipher of Edward VIII were to be quietly exchanged with George VI monogrammed boxes or the doors replaced with the new king’s cipher. The cost of changing the cipher in situ for the Ludlow type box was priced at £9.15s for each box, with a total of twenty-eight boxes needing amending. This was to be done as ‘unobtrusively as possible’ and when ‘considered desirable’ to avoid any embarrassment to the General Post Office or to the new monarch. A second Liz? Our present Queen’s cipher also had to be removed from pillar boxes, but rather than scandal, constitutional exactitude was the reason. After Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne, her cipher of EIIR was produced on pillar boxes. Scottish Nationalists vociferously campaigned for the royal cipher to change as there never had been a Queen Elizabeth I of Scotland.

A Scottish republican song at the time bore the line, ‘How can you have a second Liz when the first yin’s never been?’ Pillar boxes were targeted as they bore the symbolic royal insignia that pronounced English rule over Scotland. The first EIIR monogrammed pillar box was situated at The Inch, in Edinburgh. From its erection in November 1952, it was tarred and feathered, smeared with paint, set on fire, had incendiaries placed inside (which failed to ignite), attacked with a 7lb hammer and finally blown up by gelignite in February 1953. It was suspected, but never proven, that the Scottish Republican Army was responsible for the bombing. The national committee of the Scottish Covenant Association passed a resolution regretting that violence might ensue in Scotland but condemned the ‘obstinacy’ that the authorities had shown in keeping the offending numerals in the royal cipher. The SCA called on the Secretary of State to guarantee that a replacement pillar box at The Inch, or anywhere else in Scotland, would not incite further violence with the numerically incorrect cipher. The original pillar box was replaced by one without a royal cipher.

However, Scottish nationalists had previously failed to address that there had never been a Scottish Edward VII or Edward VIII and the pillar boxes adorned with their ciphers were not affected by the protests. The 1952-53 campaign gained the successful removal of the royal cipher from the newly installed EIIR Scottish post boxes and the insertion of a Scottish crown. Scottish Crown Cipher Scottish ‘Type C’ Pillar Box The ‘Belfast Box’ The Irish Postal Service broke away from the GPO in 1922 when Southern Ireland became independent of Britain. British pillar boxes were repainted green, although British royal ciphers remained on the pillar box from the time of installation. This occasionally ignited further protests from Irish militants. Like the Scottish nationalists, militant Irish rebels also used post boxes as weapons of war during the twentieth century. From the 1920s the royal monogram was removed from damaged boxes before reissuing after repair to reduce the likelihood of a repeat attack on the emblem of British sovereignty on Irish soil. Later in the twentieth century, the Irish Republican Army would paint pillar boxes in Northern Ireland green as a protest against British rule.

As ‘The Troubles’ worsened it became necessary to limit the aperture of the box to a strictly minimal opening to prevent the insertion of bombs. These boxes became known as ‘Belfast boxes’. Post boxes were modified in Northern Ireland and on the mainland. Post boxes as symbols of Crown and State have endured through all the changes of the political climate. They have been a constant presence in British society for over one hundred and sixty years. They are the working embodiment of communication history. The sheer number of them make them the targets of rebellions, but also, they reflect the stability of the country, the monarchy and our national identity. Many momentous historical events have impacted the existence of the post box. We may ignore such a humble street structure but the iconic status of the British post box ensures that it will remain on our streets for some time to come. Suggested reading Duncan Campbell-Smith, Masters of the Post: The Authorized History of the Royal Mail (London: Allen Lane, 2011) J.

Daunton, Royal Mail: the Post Office since 1840 (Great Britain: Athlone Press, 1985) Jean Young Ferrugia, The Letter Box Pillar Box PILLARS OF THE COMMUNITY Carol Neville on why the humble pillarbox must be preserved as part of our heritage The cost of sending a letter recently increased by a penny, but as we pop our post in the letterbox, how many of us give a second thought to the reliable friend we regularly entrust with our confidential business and personal greetings. Moves are afoot, however, to retain and conserve that most traditional feature of our heritage  the humble pillarbox. Towards the end of last year, the Royal Mail issued a set of five commemorative stamps showing examples of historic letterboxes to mark the 150th anniversary of our very first pillar box, amid plans to award more of them listed status. English Heritage says: Traditional red letterboxes are a classic icon of British design and are inextricably linked to our national image.

The nations 115,000 letterboxes are a much-loved part of the everyday street scene, making a positive contribution to the character and appearance of villages, towns and cities across the country. Baroness Tessa Blackstone, arts minister until last mont, commented: Red letterboxes are an important part of our heritage  as British as bus stops and Belisha beacons. It is entirely fitting that English Heritage should be working with the Royal Mail to help ensure that they remain so for a long time to come. But what is the story behind this little red number? The Postal Reform of 1840 led to cheaper postal rates and the popularity of the Penny Black stamp meant demand for prepaid postage soared, hence the need for some means of sending them without having to visit a post office. As an experiment, the novelist Anthony Trollope, then a Post Office Surveyor, erected the very first postboxes in the Channel Islands in November 1852  and one such box is still in use today in St Peter Port, Guernsey.

The oldest surviving pillarbox on the British mainland can be found in Dorset, bearing the nameplate John M Butt & Co of Gloucester, 1853-6. Each district surveyor was then responsible for designing and ordering their own pillarbox, which varied greatly in design across the country. In 1856, a rather unusual pillarbox emerged in the Birmingham & Southern District. A miscalculation had resulted in the box being 8 feet (2.4m) high but, despite this, two of them were put into operation, with one still surviving today in the Post Office collection. Some early Victorian letterboxes had a vertical aperture, but 1857 saw the introduction of the protruding horizontal aperture which all subsequent letterboxes were to use, as it proved more secure and dry. Although letterboxes have varied in size, shape and design over time, their basic anatomy remains much the same. The top or roof of the box has a cap to keep out the rain. The indicator tablet shows when the next collection is due  usually via a number 1 or 2.

The aperture or mouth of the box can vary in height and width, while the notice plate gives collection times and may be made of enamelled plate, paper, cardboard or plastic. The Crown, Royal Cipher and Post Office legend can differ greatly in style and size. Postboxes were traditionally made of cast iron but, in 1968, 200 boxes emerged from Vandyke Engineers in Harlow. These were rectangular in shape and consisted of steel sheets which could be replaced as necessary, but alas this style was short-lived. Other modern materials used in the construction of letterboxes include glass-reinforced plastic and polypropylene. The first public pillarboxes were green in colour, later changing to the famous pillar box red in 1874, as it was more visible. During World War II, the tops of some boxes were painted with yellowish-green gas detection paint that would change colour if there was a gas attack. Also, to aid movement during the war blackouts, some plinths were painted white. Some early boxes contained no royal cipher, and were known as anonymous boxes.

The words Post Office were inserted in 1887, later replaced with Royal Mail, and the royal ciphers of sovereigns from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II have been included. One of the most popular pillarboxes of the Victorian era was the Penfold, designed by architect J W Penfold. More than 100 were made between 1866 and 1879, taking the form of a hexagonal box with the top decorated with acanthus leaves and balls. It came in five distinct types and three sizes, making a total of 15 different styles. Many Penfolds still survive today, with a large proportion of them found in London. By the beginning of the 20th century, the problem of trapped letters was solved by increasing the height of the door and setting the posting aperture within it. In 1930, during the reign of King George V, the Post Office installed special airmail letter boxes in London. These were painted blue with clear Air Mail signs, and were later extended into the provinces.

The last blue box went out of action by 1938, when ordinary correspondence to Europe and the British Empire no longer incurred air mail surcharges. In Edward VIIIs short reign, 161 pillarboxes were made with his royal cipher. Many George VI boxes are still in use and, since 1952, the cipher of Queen Elizabeth II has been used, although there have been small changes in its size. When pillarboxes containing the cipher EIIR were erected in Scotland, some found this unacceptable, arguing that as there had never been a Queen Elizabeth of Scotland, this cipher was inaccurate. After some boxes were blown up in protest and others painted with tar, the Post Office relented and Scottish boxes bore the Scottish Crown but no royal cipher. The early letterboxes served only highly populated areas such as towns and cities, but it soon became apparent that a smaller version was needed for rural areas. The wall letterbox was born in 1857, initially in villages near Plymouth, and the following year saw a further 250 in use across the country. One of the best surviving examples can be seen at the Old Post Office in Tintagel, Cornwall.

Another type of wall box previously popular was the Ludlow, named after Birmingham manufacturer, James Ludlow, whose firm supplied letter boxes from 1885 until 1965. They were made specifically for use at sub-post offices and post offices at the expense of the postmaster, usually taking the form of a slot in the post office door or window. One of the most familiar letterboxes in rural Britain is the lamp box, fixed to a lamp post or telegraph pole, or sometimes set into a wall. A bracket box made of wood is another style, used at railway stations. It was even installed on trains in 1882 when letters could be posted directly into the sorting carriage of a mail train, reaching their destination more quickly. Other more unusual postboxes include one with a lamp post on top, one with flowers on its cap, and another topped with spikes! There are 198 rare examples of early pillarbox already listed in England. Oxfordshire is blessed with boxes in a multitude of styles, shapes and sizes, to fit the needs of its people and the environment. English Heritage describe pillarboxes as national icons, adding that they are wonderful things, universally and properly regarded with great affection.

They have every quality of good design. The new initiative aims to give practical guidance on letterbox conservation, with plans to paint them every three years, repair damaged boxes, and remove any graffiti or flyposting. In addition, the Government is planning to inject funds to help save 8,500 rural post offices, which may come under pressure with more benefits being paid directly into bank accounts. Hopefully, these measures will not come too late to save the vital lifeline provided by our rural postal services. © Newsquest (Oxfordshire) Ltd. 2005 Anthony Trollope facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Anthony Trollope COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Anthony Trollope The English novelist Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) wrote a series of novels that chronicle the everyday life of middle-class Victorians. Quietly humorous and at times satirical, his works reveal the vigorous and modest good nature of their author. After the depressions and near-revolutions of the 1840s, England entered a period of peace and plenty that lasted from 1850 to about 1870.

Anthony Trollope's fiction mirrors the Establishment of that period—comfortably off, even wealthy; concerned with individual morality; and relatively unaware of how private virtues and vices interact with public issues. Trollope was born on April 24, 1815. His mother, Frances Trollope (1780-1863), was the author of The Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832) and many novels. He was a large, awkward, shy boy who developed into a burly, vigorous, even boisterous man. He went to school at Winchester and Harrow, but he was a very poor student. When he was 19 years old, he went to work in London as a clerk in the Post Office. In 1841 Trollope volunteered to become a postal inspector in Ireland. He then took up hunting and followed the sport for many years. In 1844 he married Rose Heseltine; they had two sons.

To add to his income Trollope wrote The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) and The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848), two novels about Ireland; and La Vendée (1850), a novel set in Bruges during the French Revolution. None of these books was successful. Barsetshire Novels From 1851 to 1853 Trollope inspected post offices in southern England. In Salisbury in 1851 he conceived the idea for The Warden (1855), a novel about clerical life in a cathedral town, the first of his Barsetshire novels. It was followed by Barchester Towers (1857), in which two of the series's most popular figures—the Bishop and Mrs. Proudie—made their first appearance. These wise, humorous, and gentle novels presented the Victorian middle class without the preaching of Charles Kingsley's Alton Locke (1850) and other "sociological" novels and without the sensational events recorded in novels by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Charles Reade.

The Barsetshire series, successful financially and critically, was completed by Doctor Thorne (1858), Framley Parsonage (1861), The Small House at Allington (1864), and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). Many of the Barsetshire characters appear in more than one novel, growing older from novel to novel and revealing new but not inconsistent aspects of their personalities. Barsetshire itself was so vividly imagined that readers have published maps of this make-believe country. The series may have ended because Trollope's readers let him know they were growing tired of it. Other Novels In 1858-1859 Trollope was sent by the Post Office to Egypt, Scotland, and the West Indies and, in 1861, to the United States. From these journeys he developed stories and travel books. In 1859 Trollope was promoted to chief inspector of the Post Office, and he then moved his family from Ireland to England.

In 1860 he met Kate Field, a young American with whom he had a fatherly relationship, and William Makepeace Thackeray, whose novels he admired and about whom he wrote a memoir (Thackeray, 1879). In 1867 Trollope resigned from the Post Office and made a second trip to the United States. Wherever he went, he kept at his writing. In all, he wrote 47 novels, in addition to short stories, travel books, hunting sketches, biographies, and other volumes. Can You Forgive Her? (1864) began a series of political novels that includes Phineas Finn (1869), The Eustace Diamonds (1873), Phineas Redux (1874), The Prime Minister (1876), and The Duke's Children (1880). The characters in this series develop as they do in the Barsetshire novels, especially Plantagenet Palliser, who is seen as a young man in the first novel and as a widower in the last.

Most of Trollope's novels are good-natured, but The Way We Live Now (1875) is not. This novel is a scathing satire of England in the 1870s, greedy for money while on the edge of moral bankruptcy. This novel seems to reveal a Trollope different from the author of the Barsetshire stories. The author, however, is the man he always was; his story is now about a different England. Trollope was a methodical writer. He began writing as early as 5:30 in the morning and before breakfast entered in a diary kept for each of his novels, beginning with Barchester Towers, the number of pages he had written. He wrote aboard ship or on a train. When he finished a novel, he turned it over to his publisher and promptly began another. His method of working made him liable to the charge of being a mechanical rather than a methodical writer. However, his steady output was the result of pondering the characters and situations of a projected book while traveling or during intervals in his business day.

Last Years Trollope's Autobiography, written in 1875-1876 but not published until 1883, the year after his death, revealed his method of writing and caused a decline in his reputation. Only in the 20th century was his reputation restored. The Autobiography presents an older and sadder man—but not an essentially different one—than the Trollope who commented upon his characters in the Barsetshire novels. After resigning from the Post Office, Trollope traveled for pleasure. He continued to write during each journey. He suffered a stroke and after a short illness died on Dec. 6, 1882. Further Reading Trollope's Autobiography (1883; many subsequent editions) is a valuable self-portrait but an underestimation of his abilities. Michael Sadleir, Trollope: A Commentary (1927), undoubtedly the best biography, presents him as a healthy, normal man content with the life around him and happy to create the illusion of it in his books.

Lucy Poate Stebbins and Richard Stebbins, The Trollopes: The Chronicle of a Writing Family (1945), analyzes Trollope as an unhappy man who betrayed his talent and revealed his embitterment in his Autobiography. The best critical study is Bradford A. Booth, Anthony Trollope: Aspects of His Life and Art (1958), which mediates these views. Walter E. Houghton, The Victorian Frame of Mind, 1830-1870 (1957), is an excellent presentation of historical background. Additional Sources The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Anthony Trollope (trŏl´əp), 1815–82, one of the great English novelists. After spending seven unhappy years in London as a clerk in the general post office, he transferred (1841) to Ireland and became post-office inspector; he held various positions in the postal service until his resignation in 1867. He published several unsuccessful novels before he achieved fame with The Warden (1855), the first in the series of Barsetshire novels.

Others in the series are Barchester Towers (1857), Doctor Thorne (1858), Framley Parsonage (1861), The Small House at Allington (1864), and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). In his later novels Trollope shifted his interest from the rural scene to urban society and politics. These books include The Claverings (1867), Phineas Finn (1869), He Knew He Was Right (1869), The Eustace Diamonds (1873), The Way We Live Now (1875), The Prime Minister (1876), and The American Senator (1877). His extensive journeys, many in the service of the post office, resulted in various books of travel, including an account of his visit to the United States. He was an industrious and prolific author, and besides his novels and travel books he wrote several biographical works and a highly praised autobiography (1883).

According to Henry James, Trollope's greatness lies in his "complete appreciation of the usual." The Barsetshire novels, upon which his fame rests, depict in detail the lives of a group of ordinary but interesting people who live in the county of Barsetshire. The series as a whole presents a fascinating microcosm of Victorian society. Trollope's mother, Frances Fanny Trollope, 1780–1863, was also a writer. Her acerbic account of her travels in the United States, The Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), was offensive to Americans but was a best seller in England and began her career as a successful writer. She continued to write travel books and started a steady stream of novels, of which the best are The Vicar of Wrexhill (1837) and The Widow Barnaby and its sequels (1839–56). See his autobiography ed. by M. Sadleir (1883, repr. 1968); biographies of him by M. Sadleir (1927, new ed. 1961) and H.

Walpole (1928); studies by A. O. J. Cockshut (1955), D. Smalley (1969), A. G. Freedman (1971), J. Pope-Hennessy (1971), W. M. Kendrick (1980), R. H. Super (1988), S. Wall (1989), and N. J. Hall (1992); L. P. and R. P. Stebbins, The Trollopes (1945, repr. 1968); biography of Frances Trollope by P. Neville-Sington (1998). Cite this article The Oxford Companion to British History © The Oxford Companion to British History 2002, originally published by Oxford University Press 2002. Trollope, Anthony (1815–82). Trollope's reputation suffered from the frank admission in his Autobiography (1883) that he set out to write 1,000 words an hour, checked by his watch.

Many took this as evidence that he was a mere journeyman, a word-spinner. But his stock has risen dramatically, and, like Eliot and Bennett , he is a historian's novelist, filling in the social background with care and detail. Though a contemporary of Dickens (1812–70), he seems to belong to a later generation, having dropped much of the moralizing, the sentimentality, and the Gothic caricaturing. His political novels are greatly admired, but there is something in the criticism that they show the political world with politics left out. Indeed Trollope was not very familiar with politics, and did not greatly enjoy what he saw of it—particularly as Liberal candidate for the corrupt borough of Beverley in 1868. Nor is it easy to retain patience with Trollope's favourite character, the duke of Omnium, a languid Whig.

He is better at drawing clerics in his Barchester novels— Revd Obadiah Slope in Barchester Towers (1857) or Revd Septimus Harding in The Warden (1855); Irish plotters in his early novel The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847); civil service rivalry in The Three Clerks (1858); or perhaps, most memorably, shady plausible swindlers like Ferdinand Lopez in The Prime Minister (1876), or Melmotte in The Way We Live now (1875), a novel that haunts after more than 100 years. Trollope's life was uneventful—that of a hard-working Post Office official, whose claim to fame was the introduction of pillar boxes in the 1850s. J. A. Cannon World Encyclopedia © World Encyclopedia 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. Trollope, Anthony (1815–82) English novelist. He spent most of his life working for the Post Office and was responsible for the introduction of the pillar-box.

Trollope's reputation as a writer is founded chiefly on a series of six novels, chronicling rural Victorian life in the imaginary county of Barsetshire. The series included The Warden (1855), Barchester Towers (1857), and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1858). His novels of the Palliser family include Can You Forgive Her? (1864–65) and The Way We Live Now (1874–75). His refreshingly modest and workman-like approach to his craft is documented in the posthumously published Autobiography (1883). Cite this article Royal Mail strike: the last post - Telegraph Royal Mail Royal Mail strike: the last post As a national strike threatens the future of Britain’s mail system, Christopher Howse laments the demise of the trusty postman A rural postman delivers from a penny farthing bicycle in 1900 Photo: Post Office By Christopher Howse Comments Even before Royal Mail workers decided to go on strike this week, we had fallen out of love with the postman. Who still believes a first-class stamp guarantees next-day delivery?

Who is confident a fiver in a birthday card will ever make it to the recipient? And why do so many of the 342 million red rubber bands used by the Post Office each year end up on our doorsteps? Once we each knew our postman, and would give him a Christmas box, perhaps invite him in for a seasonal glass of sherry. Now, in light of reports that postmen are leaving “Sorry, you were out” cards unnecessarily, we’re lucky if a stranger can be bothered to bring our post to the door. But the real reason the postman is no longer loved is because he has lost a sense of duty and a place in the community, crushed as he is between militant unions and appalling management. Uniform is a barometer of esprit de corps. In their shorts, trainers, sweatshirts and baseball caps, postmen today look like residents on the Costa del Crime ambling to the nearest sports bar. Not that postal delivery staff had always looked quite like Postman Pat, for between 1862 and 1932 they wore on their heads a shako, like the firing squad in Manet’s Execution of Emperor Maximilian.

This quasi-military style extended to sleeve-stripes for good conduct. These proved so popular that postmen who had won them were allowed to continue wearing them when the scheme was phased out in the First World War. Related Articles Amazon set up contingency measures to avoid disruption 08 Oct 2009 At that time, the Post Office employed 249,696, twice today’s number. The Victorian model, as with the railways and the mines, was labour-intensive. High manning and discipline led to stirring feats. In the 10 days before Christmas 1917, half a million sacks of post were delivered to fighting men at the front. Discipline included a ban on the employment of married women, which endured until 1946, five years after postwomen were permitted to wear trousers. Until 1969, the Postmaster General was in the Cabinet, and postmen served the Crown. In 1986, Royal Mail’s operations were split into letters, parcels and post office counters (many of them now closed). No wonder loyalty waned. In the 1990s, the Government raided the Post Office’s profits.

Once its monopoly was taken away, under pressure from the EU, “the roof fell in”, as the Telegraph’s Jeff Randall put it. It got worse. In 2001, the Post Office spent a million pounds rebranding itself as Consignia, sounding like a left-luggage office. Ridicule drove it a year later to rename itself Royal Mail, with the Post Office as a subsidiary. Losses grew, despite the shedding of 40,000 jobs. The postman’s work is still there. If the number of letters held up by the recent wildcat strikes is 25 million, that is only a third of the 75 million daily average. In 1839, on the eve of the penny post, only 76 million were sent in a whole year; within a decade, numbers rose to 350 million a year. But, in 2009, that is only a week’s work – when the postman is working. Latterly, Britain’s postal service seems like a permanent screening of I’m All Right, Jack (1959), the Boulting brothers’ satire on labour relations.

The first national post strike was held in 1971. Since then, the number of postmen has fallen by 100,000. It sounds like the miners. When they’re gone, we might realise how much the postman has moulded our daily lives. In 1840, houses did not have letterboxes in their front doors; the postman had to knock. The spread of letterboxes in the next two decades was matched by the introduction in 1852 of pillar boxes. This brilliant measure was masterminded by Anthony Trollope, the novelist, who worked for the Post Office for 33 years. In Trollope’s He Knew He Was Right, the old-fashioned Miss Stanbury walked to the post office, refusing to use pillar boxes. “She had not the faintest belief that any letter put into one of them would ever reach its destination.” Today, pillar boxes, with their royal monograms from six reigns, seem a trustworthy part of our heritage, like hereditary peers. They, too, may go. Collections and deliveries are scandalously dwindling. Considering how hard-won Sunday deliveries were, the Royal Mail has been reckless in abandoning them.

Trollope’s Framley Parsonage turns on a letter arriving late. The novelist follows its course by cart and trains through the night, until, early in the day, “it was shouldered by the Framley footpost messenger, and in due course delivered at the Framley Parsonage exactly as Mrs Robarts had finished reading prayers to the four servants”. Or it would have been, had not the people of Framley refused to accept post on a Sunday, as Victorian towns were allowed to. If Dickens invented the Victorian Christmas, the postman had a hand in it, too. He appeared on a million cards, like the robin or snowman. The Victorians looked out for him early on Valentine’s Day, too, and he proved a subversive influence below stairs. A party game, with penalty points paid with kisses, became known as Postman’s Knock. By the end of the 19th century, the village postman was a chocolate-boxy emblem of Old England, like the milkmaid. Today, the postman often dawdles till the afternoon. Gone is the civilian army that put deliveries on a permanent war footing.

Until 2004, as the night mail rushed northward at the speed of steam, letters were sorted on board, as depicted in WH Auden’s poem: “Letters with holiday snaps to enlarge in, / Letters with faces scrawled in the margin, / Letters from uncles, cousins, and aunts, / Letters to Scotland from the South of France.” Well, no one sends photos to be enlarged any more, and precious few write letters of any kind; an estimated 10 million fewer letters a day are sent thanks to email. We stumble along pavements with mobiles clamped to our frying brains or peck out texts. Unable to write letters, we are losing our culture, and with it the postman. Kipling wrote his “Recessional” to mourn the Empire. Can the laureate Carol Ann Duffy now write “The Last Post”?

Question: Which novelist when working for the Post Office was responsible for the introduction of the pillar box into Britain?
Answer: ANTHONY TROLLOPE